Crime Committee Report e.indd - New York State Senate

V. 2009 Rockefeller Reform:
Treating Drug Addiction as a Disease
In 1973 New York enacted, what were considered at the time, the harshest drug laws in the
nation. The so-called Rockefeller Drug Laws eliminated judges’ discretion and required them
to impose harsh mandatory minimum prison sentences on drug offenders. New York State
spends hundreds of millions a dollar a year incarcerating drug offenders.
More than 35 years after they were enacted, it was clear that the
Rockefeller Drug Laws failed to effectively combat drug abuse or reduce
violent crimes in our communities. What it did succeed in doing was to
imprison tens of thousands of low level non-violent African-American and
Latino offenders, with no prior history of committing violent crimes. It
cost New Yorkers more than $500 million a year to imprison all individuals
convicted of drug offenses at a state level.
The Rockefeller Drug Laws created a revolving door of substance
abuse and imprisonment. The overwhelming number of people sent
to prison suffered from unaddressed substance abuse problems. One
study showed that 83% of inmates in prison have an identified substance
abuse problem 6 (82 percent of male inmates and 88 percent of
female inmates).
A 2004 report found that rates of illicit drug use are 8.1 percent for whites, 7.2 percent for
Hispanics and 8.7 for African-Americans 7 . Yet today 90 percent of those incarcerated in state
prisons for drug offenses are African-American or Latino. African-Americans comprise 58.5
percent of drug offenders in state prison; Latinos 31.5 percent and whites 8.9 percent 8 . 80 percent
of drug offenders in state prison have never been convicted of a violent offense. 9
In 2009, led by Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Chair of the Senate Standing Committee
on Crime, Crime Victims and Correction and Senator Eric Schneiderman, Chair of the Senate
Standing Committee on Codes, drug policy in New York was about to dramatically change.
The Senate Takes a New Direction
With a new Democrat Majority in the Senate 10 , historic legislation was signed into law which
changed public policy on handling drug offenders. Instead of the old “lock them up and throw
away the keys” mantra the new Democrat Majority advanced the smarter approach which was to
address the causes of drug addiction and to point to the way back to a productive and peaceful life.
6 Identified Substance Abuse, 2007, New York State Department of Correctional Services.
7 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, U.S. Department of Health, SAMHSA
8 Testimony submitted by Correctional Association of New York before Hearings of Joint Committees of the New York State Assembly, held May
8, 2008, New York City.
9 Id
10 Up until 2008, the Republicans had commanded the Majority for 40 years.
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New York State Senate